I hate deadlines
by luthien-yavetil
Summary: Tachibana Juta never really liked deadlines. It wasn't his fault he couldn't make them at times well, not ALWAYS, but... ! With his worst nightmare for an editor and more distractions than ever, how will he cope? Well, read to find out! SPOILERS INSIDE


THIS FANFICTION IS DEDICATED TO MISS YVETTE. A LOVING MOTHER, A CARING TEACHER, AND A WONDERFUL GUIDANCE COUNCILOR… THANK YOU FOR EVERYTHING.

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Author's Note: It's almost summer vacation and I plan to spend most of it writing! So yes, when I get back to school, all my friends can expect to see me fatter than ever… I'm just kidding (I hope…)! XDDD Well, here I give you an Otomen fanfic. It's my latest inclination right now. Unfortunately though, I don't think I'll ever be able to match Asuka's maiden levels.

By the way, this particular fanfic is actually pretty Juta-centric. I actually think he'll be a pretty fun character to work with, so maybe you guys can expect some more fanfics about him in the future. SACHIHANA-SENSEI~~~

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A pile of deadlines cluttering your desk was not the prettiest sight in the morning. And the desperate whine of your publishing editor over the cellphone was not so good to hear either.

"_Sachihana-sensei!" _groaned Matsudo, making Juta's ears ache. "How much longer are you planning to–"

"I'm really, _really _sorry, Matsudo-san! Really am!"

Tachibana Juta wearily laced his sneakers, eyeing the table and all the paperwork helplessly. It was not as if he could do anything about it _now. _

He stood up from his bedside and made way for the bedroom door, trying to distract his eyes with something else to ease the stress. He eyed the floor beneath the door, recently refurbished after that fire incident. He enjoyed a brief moment of relief as he reminisced just how barely he avoided Asuka's almost-discovery of his secret identity.

And speaking of secret identity, that identity still had loads of work to finish. _Drat, _he thought grudgingly. His thoughts were back to the unfinished manuscripts.

Matsudo refused to let him off so easily. "You know you have duties, Sachihana-sensei. Are you really willing to risk your manga's popularity like this? At least work on something today!"

Juta sadly replied, "I have no choice." And this time, he really did.

He sighed. The calendar across his room marked two very important dates. Naturally, there was this week's submission deadline of 'Lovetic'. The publishers made such a big deal over his work ever since the awards ceremony that Matsudo-san barely gave the teenager a day without at least one phone call and a reminder to hurry up with the next installment. But today, the editor probably had every right to make those calls and reminders. That deadline was in two days, and Juta still needed to finish five more pages.

But there was a problem. Two days before the deadline – meaning, the current day itself – it was his little sister's… _one of his _little sisters' birthdays. And because of that, they were to spend a full-day trip in Zoo Need World. The plans had been fully arranged without his knowledge and stayed like that for a month, until he realized he was missing at least three thousand yen from his secret stash. At that point, his sisters presented him with the eleven _nonrefundable _passes.

An hour later afterwards, he 'found' another secret stash location inside a sealed waterproof bag. He then put all of it inside the back compartment of the bathroom toilet. At least he would not have to worry about the girls sneaking in _there_.

Juta stopped daydreaming at the sound of severe coughing at the other line. "Matsudo-san, you okay?" he asked anxiously. He stepped into the hallway, taking into his hand the phone, which he had been supporting against his ear with his shoulder.

It took a few minutes before the man could recover. "Yeah… Yeah," Matsudo gasped heavily. "Sorry about that… Asthma, you know?"

Juta remembered the last time his Yue had an attack. Needless to say, it had not been pretty. "Hey," Juta said carefully. "Matsudo-san… if you're not feeling well…"

Matsudo's voice suddenly become so airy that Juta was almost unable to understand the next thing he said. "I am not… taking… a break. Unlike you… _Juta_…!"

He used his real name. Juta figured this was serious.

"Matsudo-san," Juta said slowly and clearly. He was coming down the stairs now. "Find someone else to take over. Have them come over tomorrow, if you're so worked up about it. And they can make progress reports." (The last bit was going to be a challenge, but with any luck…) "I'll finish everything by tomorrow. I promise."

Matsudo would not reply at first. He had too much trouble breathing. But when he finally had the lungs to speak, he said in barely a whisper, "I'm counting on you."

Then he hung up.

Juta grimaced, pitying the guy yet unable to do anything about it. His entire day lay completely in the hands of his sisters.

He reached the bottom step and encountered all his sisters. He did a quick headcount. Four were chatting at the dinner table (which was occasionally called his 'work table', especially when he needed more hands than ever helping him out), two were exploiting his hard-earned X-Box, and the rest were practicing their own skills in drawing with crayons on a sketchpad on the floor.

The eldest sister, Kuriko, took her eyes off the television screen just long enough to give her older brother a fast once-over. She promptly returned to bashing out all the life points of her virtual enemy with a melon-sized mallet. "Hey Juta," she said nonchalantly. "Where's your shirt gone?"

Juta looked down. In a flash he was racing back up the staircase, ignoring the shrieks and screams of laugher following after him. He groaned.

It was going to be a long day.


End file.
